Tag James Wright

After a 20-year process, a genetically modified fish earned U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval, reigniting one of the seafood industry’s most intriguing controversies. Here are 10 key downloads from the groundbreaking decision over AquAdvantage salmon. 

At Fish 2.0, it’s seafood, Silicon Valley style. Aquaculture companies gave their best pitches to investors and two left Palo Alto, Calif., as winners. Founder Monica Jain says the competition highlights a financial gap that must be bridged for the industry to advance. 

Aquaculture remains dependent on fishmeal and fish oil, crucial marine ingredients in aquafeeds, particularly at key life stages. Andrew Jackson, technical director at IFFO and one of the world’s foremost fishmeal experts, tells the Advocate that the two industries can coexist well into the future if properly managed. 

At the recent GOAL conference, the British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association committed to reveal sea lice counts at farms operating in the province while promising a future without antibiotics, despite struggles with the persistent yellow mouth disease. 

University of New England Professor Barry Costa-Pierce says aquaculture is often neglected in studies examining ocean health and ecosystem and resource management. The “Ocean Prosperity Roadmap” released this summer, he said, was more of the same. 

A jam-packed three days of important dialogue in Vancouver was capped off by a keynote from the CEO of one of Canada’s oldest seafood companies, a suite of aquafeed innovations and a moving acceptance speech from Bill Herzig, the GAA Lifetime Achievement Award recipient. 

If Day 1 of GOAL 2015 was all about defense, the following day of the aquaculture industry’s leading global conference was about offense — exuding confidence that farming fish is the way to feed future generations, and determining how to tell the world its story. 

The 2015 GOAL conference in Vancouver, Canada, kicked off with a First Nations celebration, an industry growth report card and the latest defensive efforts against aquaculture diseases. Simplifying the story, however, may be the tallest obstacle yet. 

The British Columbia Salmon Farmers Association releases its first annual Sustainability Progress Report as the Global Aquaculture Alliance hosts its GOAL conference in Vancouver, B.C. The group intends to share progress on environmental, social and economic impacts. 

At the GOAL 2015 pre-conference workshop in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, a panel of aquaculture management experts determined that producers sharing water resources must work together to prevent the spread of disease and to become more attractive to investors. 

The Global Aquaculture Alliance will honor seafood procurement expert Bill Herzig with a Lifetime Achievement Award during its annual GOAL conference. He talked to the Advocate about top-to-bottom commitment to sustainability and the ambitious lobster aquaculture project he spearheaded in Malaysia with Darden Restaurants. 

A handful of deep-pocketed philanthropic foundations hold tremendous influence on marine conservation organizations and, by extension, the seafood supply chain. At GOAL, a Dutch Sustainable Trade Initiative director will challenge them to engage with the aquaculture industry, not solely fisheries. 

Camanor Produtos Marinhos Ltda. operates a land-based, multi-species concept for sustainable shrimp production called AquaScience. The Global Aquaculture Alliance has named Camanor the winner of its annual Aquaculture Innovation and Leadership award. Director Werner Jost discusses the process. 

The husband-and-wife team of Bill and Betty More has earned admiration and respect in many parts of the world for their many decades of work in aquaculture and sustainability certification. SIRF has established a living memorial in their name. 

Social license – a community’s acceptance and support of an industry’s presence – is a key factor in aquaculture’s growth prospects. It’s a major obstacle U.S. waters, in particular. Michael Rubino of NOAA Fisheries discusses the challenges.